It was just announced today that the Hasselblad H4D 40 and H5D 50 are been shipped at the end of the month. I'll be getting a loan of an IQ160 and Arca Swiss RM3Di next week. Hopefully a H5D 50 will be sent to me at the same time so I can compare cameras under same lighting conditions. I'll have the H5D 60 to test at the end of February.

As Enda mentions, shipping to begin soon. This weekend Capture Integration is exhibiting at Imaging USA in Atlanta and next week will host a Hasselblad Open House at our Atlanta Office Loft. We will have the use of an H5D at both of these events.

It was just announced today that the Hasselblad H4D 40 and H5D 50 are been shipped at the end of the month. I'll be getting a loan of an IQ160 and Arca Swiss RM3Di next week. Hopefully a H5D 50 will be sent to me at the same time so I can compare cameras under same lighting conditions. I'll have the H5D 60 to test at the end of February.

If we based the analysis on B&H it will be at the end of February. I don't see a lot of timing information on Hasselblad's site. In the other hand B&H giving Feb 28 for all the line including the H5D-200MS so it could be that they will start shipping until they have the full line.

All of this is speculation at some degree. I will love to have a formal release from Hasselblad.

If we based the analysis on B&H it will be at the end of February. I don't see a lot of timing information on Hasselblad's site. In the other hand B&H giving Feb 28 for all the line including the H5D-200MS so it could be that they will start shipping until they have the full line.

Lol.

Trust me when I say that Steve is a bit better informed about all things Hasselblad than b+h.

Specialized shops like Steve's and mine are in touch with the manufacturer nearly every day.

B+H probably received an estimate when the product was first posted and hasn't changed it since then and probably won't change it until they receive notification that theirs has been shipped or until someone at hassy contacts them to ask them to change the eta.

Trust me when I say that Steve is a bit better informed about all things Hasselblad than b+h.

Specialized shops like Steve's and mine are in touch with the manufacturer nearly every day.

B+H probably received an estimate when the product was first posted and hasn't changed it since then and probably won't change it until they receive notification that theirs has been shipped or until someone at hassy contacts them to ask them to change the eta.

So, the new logo is done, the new plastics are coming, and as soon as new firmware can be burned into the existing stock of H4's, and the shells fitted, they will be shipping

Edmund

Indeed! On a side note, I am wondering if H will be giving Lunars away as an incentive to purchase upper-tier H5Ds. I'm wondering when H will come out with the next Lunar model. What is your "dream Lunar"?

It's actually a shame that the H5D got a bit buried under the awful Lunar thing. The H5D actually brings a bunch of small but oft requested features to the H line making it a worthy upgrade. Here's the list from Hasselblad:

The H4's seem to be good cameras, well accepted by their users, but they are suffering from the economy and the D800 effect. At the rate the MF market is shrinking (my dealer says 50% of a couple of years ago) there will be no market to save if the product isn't slimmed down and speeded up a bit.

I don't wanna offend the dealers here, but existing users would happily pay the dealer $500 for a firmware update offering the features below which could be done with a firmware update, and a price cut of 30% across the range would have done more for sales than the expense of a "new model" release, the issues of old and new stock dealer inventory and spare parts, and production retooling, etc etc.

This relabelling of a firmware update is a case of marketing execs inventing an excuse to keep their jobs while minimizing R&D. More is being spent on the plastics -enlarged buttons- product shots, the web site, the prospectus and updated price lists than on engineering. If they really just want to save the marketing department, they might as well subcontract all the engineering to Fuji who have the necessary resources inhouse.

Now, a new sensor and Liveview and integrated GPS and Wifi, with a web server like the D4 to relay Liveview and images to an iPad and remove the computer tethering, yes that would make sense. At this point the novel features of the dSLRs are turning compelling when they used to be marginal.

Maybe it is time the MF guys got the message that we expect *them* to make cameras, with which we take pictures, and which *our customers* then use to market image and hype.

It's actually a shame that the H5D got a bit buried under the awful Lunar thing. The H5D actually brings a bunch of small but oft requested features to the H line making it a worthy upgrade. Here's the list from Hasselblad: